Beautifulness
by Princess Helyn
Summary: Faraday/Charlotte, post-death  in the sideways world . Most likely 99% fluff, as I really like to write fluff. Review if you think I should continue with it...  I probably will anyway, I love being in Dan-Dan's head
1. Chapter 1

He felt like a stalker for watching her all day, but she was just so beautiful. It was like he knew her from a past life, but science—which he'd recently taken a liking to—told him this was impossible. It didn't seem it though… It definitely didn't seem impossible for Daniel to have known this girl in the past, in a life he couldn't quite remember, or maybe in the future. He had set his piano up on the stage across the street from her museum, so that whenever she walked out front he would see her. He was doing his best to look natural on the stage, as if he was just practicing and enjoying the air, but he felt even more awkward than usual with his eyes following her—as though she might look up at any second and see him looking at her. He let his fingers dance along the keys without cue from his brain, and continued to follow his beautiful redhead with his eyes. Every once and a while he would try thinking of something else, just for the heck of it, like his music or the equations he'd written the other day, but these things were either too complicated or not enough so and could never hold his interest.

He thought, once, about going up to talk to her. He imagined vividly himself having a perfectly normal conversation with his redhead, as if he was a perfectly normal person. _Hello there,_ he would say to her completely naturally, _it's__a__lovely__day__today__isn't it?_

_Why yes,_ she would reply, _yes it is. I'm…_ he didn't know her name but he imagined she would say it here, _by __the__way_, she would add as if it was just a thought, introducing herself politely, even though in his fantasies she always knew him, too.

_What__a__nice__name,_ he would smile then, as he was pretty sure that would seem the natural thing to do, _mine's Daniel._

_What__a__nice__name_, she would say back, smiling as well. Even though it wasn't—it was a rather boring, common name really.

He almost didn't enjoy thinking in this way, though. Even in his mind he could barely get through the sentences, especially when confronted with this horribly—beautifully—distracting girl. Cursing his lack of social skills, he once again resigned himself to watching her. Maybe _she _would decide to talk to _him_, sometime. It was a great thought, if an unlikely one. So he let it float around his head, along with music and math and imagined conversations.

He tried to imagine a name for her. He was feeling almost sure that he would never get the chance to talk to her, except maybe after he was dead when she would introduce herself as an angel. But considering his imagined name wouldn't help him, Daniel tried to push this idea from his mind, even though 'Charlotte' kept popping up, as though he had already decided on calling her that. He tried not to think of her that way though, just as his redhead—_his_ already being wishful thinking—in case they ever did meet and she introduced herself by her actual name, and he would have to change his mental image of her… of _Charlotte_. What an extraordinary coincidence it would be, though, if that did end up being her name. Charlotte… it was such a pretty name, nearly as pretty as the girl it didn't really belong to, and he loved how it rolled off his tongue. As if, as long as that was in the sentence, he would be able to say anything he wished without having to think about how to phrase it. This girl and her imagined name were making everything easier already.

His redhead, _Charlotte_, didn't seem to be having the same problems he was. He tried, for a little while, but he just couldn't imagine her looking up at him sitting there awkwardly playing the piano and thinking "I wonder if his name is Daniel?"

It was much too absurd a thing for a _normal_ person to think. He did _try _to imagine her, imagining herself having conversations with him… as if maybe he was hers too: her musician. And what if she would look up at him, whenever she felt he was not looking, and try to imagine _him_ looking at _her_? That would be truly amazing, however unlikely. He wondered if, in her imagined conversations, she tried to think of names for him. If she was trying not to think of him as Daniel, or as some other name, in case she was wrong.

Daniel knew, though, that this was all wishful thinking. This girl seemed far too happy to be concerning herself with made-up conversations and names, as he was. And she was definitely too mentally healthy to think this far in depth about a complete stranger, unless he wasn't a stranger to her… unless, as it seemed, he _had_ known her. Maybe in a past life they'd been together… He had known her name, and that was why he knew—or guessed—it now? He shook his head slowly, trying to clear it of these impossibilities, but couldn't. He had to hold on to the hope that his Charlotte knew him, and was thinking about him, too. Or at least was trying not to.

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	2. Chapter 2

After countless hours of contemplation, Daniel had decided he was going to talk to her. He felt very serious as he walked into the museum: as if, despite the deceivingly _normal _appearance of the day, this was somehow the climax of his life. His life seemed to go in slow motion as he walked into the museum. Having not planned this far ahead and unsure of what to do now, he resigned himself to looking at the exhibits, even though archeology wasn't his thing and he couldn't have cared less about that part of the museum.

He was just standing, trying to appear interested in a fossil, when he saw a flash of red hair out of the corner of his eye. The thought that it might have been her made his heart jump in an exciting and surprisingly clichéd way and he whipped around before even thinking of what he was going to say.

Daniel managed to turn around quickly enough to notice that she was looking at him, which just made him even more nervous, but also gave him at least a little hope that she spent some time thinking about him. Or he could have just been doing a worse job at appearing natural than he'd thought…

She continued to look at him, and he might have been imagining it but she looked kind of thoughtful and maybe just a little interested in him. Maybe enough so that he would be able to get through a conversation with her, and figure out why he felt like he knew her. Daniel hoped more than anything that the reason this girl was looking at him was because she knew him, too, but this seemed to him like the very definition of wishful thinking. Why would this beautiful flame-haired girl care at all about _him? _What had he ever done that was important enough that she would want to look at him, want to _talk _to him? There was no way he would ever get up the courage to talk to her… He would have stood there all day searching for something to say to her had she not spoken first, and when she did so at first all he could do was look at her in utter disbelief as to his luck.

"Hello, can I help you with anything?" Her accent was just how he had imagined it in their pretend conversations, and while this somehow didn't surprise him it pleased him so much that for a minute he couldn't think of what to say.

"I—" he stammered, "Uh… no, I'm… I'm just looking around…" This was a lot harder than he had thought, and after not understanding it his whole life Daniel finally understood the expression "take my breath away."

"Alright," she said in her painfully perfect voice, "well just let me know then?" She smiled at him, and for the second time Daniel's breath seemed to escape him.

"I… I will." _This is it, _he told himself, _if you don't ask her now this will bother you for the rest of your life. _He didn't think for a second he was being overdramatic—this moment was important, he was positive. If only he had more _time, _he could have thought of something to say! But she was walking away… no, he couldn't just stand there and watch this girl he loved, this girl he barely knew, walk away!

"Wait!" he called before he could over think it and talk himself out of talking to her, "You… uh… you look… familiar…" he mumbled. _Learn to talk, dammit! What's wrong with you?_ "Do I… do I know you from somewhere?" _Okay, it's over. Answer, please answer!_

"I'm not sure," she said, still smiling. How was she always so happy? "But you look familiar too. Do you live around here?"

"Yes I… We should… uh…" _Ask her name! Just find out her name, you can manage that can't you? _He shouted at himself, cursing if incompetent mouth and wondering why this was so _difficult. _"What's your name?" he blurted out, managing to get through at least those three words without losing his train of thought.

"I'm Charlotte," she said, laughing. He must have looked really pathetic, "and you?"

"I'm Daniel," he replied, stunned. _Charlotte, that _is _her name. Then… how do I know her?_

"Hi Daniel." She was still smiling, still laughing in a beautifully lighthearted way. "Nice to meet you."

"You too. We should…" he gestured with his hands in a way he was hoping would be recognized as meaning 'do something sometime.'

"Yes," she giggled, "we should." She copied his hand movements.

Daniel smiled at her—at _Charlotte—_and decided that whatever happened happened, but this day was a success. Finding words suddenly much easier, he smiled simply at her and asked "when and where?"


	3. Chapter 3

That night, with his Charlotte taking up an unhealthy amount of space in his mind, Daniel had a dream—the first one in months—that wasn't about numbers. It an exquisitely real dream, and a pleasure to experience, but it was the single most terrifying thing he had ever endured and as he mentally documented it, he hoped more than anything that it was merely the deranged musings of his mind and did not have the same truth that the numbers had.

_Time was running out._

_He wasn't going to make it... everything was in slow motion but somehow that did little to make it seem as if he had more time, but rather slowed him down at least a hundred and fifty percent what the world's slowing down had been and made it impossible for him to get anything done, to make any progress whatsoever._

_She was waiting, and he would never make it... She was going to leave without him, he couldn't allow it! No, no, no. He _wouldn't_ allow it. She had been his life for as long as he had known her, her leaving would mean that part of him dying and that was unacceptable. To let her go now would be emotional suicide and he knew it... he just had to hurry. If only the world would slow down just a _little more _so he could get to her! All he should have needed were a few seconds, but his feet were molasses and dragged, sickeningly slowly, across pavement that he barely had time to notice._

_Charlotte was turning around, looking back at him. " I'm ready to go! " her mouth spelled out painfully—painfully, but beautifully— slowly, and the golden light behind her silhouetted her flaming red hair as she turned around, oh, so slowly, and made to leave. Wisps of this hair bounced around her, following the unnaturally slow pace of the dream and seeming to stay suspended in mid air, curling around her face regretfully as she turned away._

_"I'm ready too!" Daniel wanted to say— he wanted to so much but his mouth wouldn't form the words. He continued running in this accursed slow motion, unable to do anything, his whole body underwater and his breath like sad little bubbles streaming behind him, mingling with tears he hadn't realized he was producing. The golden light behind his Charlotte was menacingly heavenly, and his secular body wanted nothing to do with it even while his mind screamed over and over to run. _

_As he got closer to her his legs seemed to slow down further, his heartbeat tripling to make up for it and his brain screaming: _Run to her!Run you idiot, run!

But he couldn't. And he awoke a shaking wreck, filled with the worry for the loss of his Charlotte.

Completely forgetting about the promise he'd made to himself to seem nonchalant and positively _normal, _he called her as soon as he had regained his ability to speak. His fingers shook as he dialed her number, and as he typed in the last digit he closed his eyes and held the phone to his beating heart, which was currently threatening to explode if he didn't settle this (but how on earth was he supposed to settle this? He couldn't just tell her he was shaken up over a dream about her, could he?)

"Hello?" came her voice from the receiver, slightly sleepy and much calmer than his would undoubtedly be. "Daniel?"

"Yes..." he mumbled, cursing his shaken state and inability to form words, "Yes I... um... I'm so sorry to bother you, I was just wondering if we could possibly...?" he trailed off, wishing that they could have at least been talking in person so he could have gestured with his hands to get his point across.

She giggled before answering. "Yes, that'd be fine, and don't worry about bothering me. I wouldn't have given you my number if I hadn't hoped you would call." She paused, sounding slightly nervous, and he wished so much that he could have seen her face or known what she was _thinking._ "Daniel," she paused again. In the short time he'd known her, she'd always known exactly what to say, and he wondered if something was wrong. She seemed so unsure, almost like... almost like him. "Did you have any nice dreams last night?" she finally asked, and upon hearing her speak the word 'dreams' Daniel's heart found a way to entangle itself in his stomach and throat simultaneously, making it utterly impossible to speak.

"I..." he finally choked out, fighting to keep his voice from breaking, "yes, or... some... interesting?" was that the right word? Language was so hard right now... "Some interesting ones, at least. Why... why do you ask... Charlotte?" _Please just explain. Oh, please just tell me you dreamed of me, of us... like I did. Tell me you had _my_ dream, Charlotte_.

"I... I had some interesting dreams, too." He could tell just how her face would look from the way she said it. How forced her usual, effortless smile would seem. "We can talk about them over lunch, if you like?" She said it like a question, and he could hear the desperate discord in her voice, barely covered in the carefree melody she used.

"That... that would be..." perfect? Was that too strong a word? "Great. That would be great, Charlotte." _It would be perfect._

"Alright, how's eleven thirty, in that cute little coffee shop in downtown? We can talk about everything and anything you like." She sounded relieved. He was too, more so than she knew.

"That's perfect," he replied, glad to have something established.

"I'll see you then, Daniel!" she said, her voice sounding more genuinely happy. Happy to see him, he realized, and smiled like an idiot. He was kind of glad she couldn't see that part.

"I'll see you... Charlotte."

Maybe she would be able to fix everything. Daniel decided to believe it, and decided that if he could he would try his best fix her, too, even if she didn't need it.


End file.
